CRAP GAMé A HALF-DoZEN men were shoot- ing crap on the subway-sta- tion platform. They had heavi- ly chalked the playing area so that the chalk dust would slow up the roll of the dice and keep them from dropping off into the tracks. This businesslike detail somehow characterized the en tire game." The men did not talk to one another or to the dice. They played in a tired, depressed way. The dice went rolling out, and the men stooped to cover their bets with nickels and dimes. Then they watched the com- binations turn up and pocketed the change-all quiet, no argument, excla- mations, or sighs. It was late at night; there were few passengers to watch them. Then it started. A woman came down the steps from the change booth, saw the men playing, and looked around at the other bystanders, incred- ulous that they did nothing about it. "Well, I never!" she said. Flush- ing and bouncing with indignation, she poked her way into the knot of men. "This is a public place!" she an- nounced. "The idea of gambling in a public place!" The crapshooters stared at her, their faces silly with wonder. "What the hell do you call that?" asked one man, still jiggling the dice in his fist. "A N american!" exclaimed another player . "A real American." "Never you mind!" the lady snapped. "Just where do you think you are, gambling in a public place?" "Listen,. lady," the man with the dice said ardently. "Somebody here hurting you? Anybody in the crowd bothering you personally ? Now, I'm asking you, anybody interfering with you? " He was a small piece of man, dirty, and with dirty, poor clothes. "Let it go, McCarty," one of the crapshooters said. "Let it lay." They had straightened up in the dingy light of the platform, unable to understand the woman's point of view, and resent- ful but unwilling to talk back to her. They moved away from t'he chalked- up area, waiting for her to go and leave them alone. "No! " McCarty cried. "It just gets me sore to see." He turned to the woman again. "You paid a nickel for a ride, ain't it? Why don't you walt for the train and mind your own bus- iness? " ., "A w, let it pass, Mac," the other crapshooters said to him. ('Don't raise }:i t - :::-'.... Lf it(: :: ::::.:. ,: ::>,1, ;=-: K" ,"":'" .:" "",', ',' ,\:, ,;,: ""',ø. i:, ::: " :':,;: , : , ,, ,: , :; , : , : , ,:,,;,:, ';::'" \;", , '" '...",, ; , '; ',/ : : . f t!Ë ... ...... ........ 1R:;::" ::; " , , : : , : : : , : , :' : , ; , , , ' , " ' 1 : , t . : 1 : ! " .;:J .' ,',' " ,,, J ,,' " ";'::-: ;;,,",., \ ': f:'\ , , I , : " , , . ::.:.?-- _ : , : , , : , : F , ::; t( , %, ". 5L '"':.":':-.':': ". <:::x:::. f(. 7!4;' i!1I J ! ' ,'" " .. ;J;f"""",',', :"" W i , : :: , '::'Y " :-""o. , , " , , ' ,' , : , :>.'v.... , :: , :: , t': , r. ;t: v , ' Wtne'" ,,>, . : , , f , , , , : , , , ;;k':"",: l tÅ : :i ..Y>W-- '&' :'1 "" ill ; "" . , t, : ....:-> ,,' ,: " ,: :"::':.." ",:,: ,::': i::: ..;: :à Ä ' , ,w.. , , .., , , .., .., .. .. { :-; , > \If ,,' .. , :i :;",}1 : _ ::',',..""" .. j w,w :::: :" " r1;' , , - . . j - ...." .,- . "" a holler. She'll beat it." He paid no attention to them but kept on looking straight at the woman; finally he rolled the dice to her feet contemptuously. "N ow, how do you like that?" he asked. The woman turned at once and went back through the turnstile toward the stairs. "I'll get a policeman!" she an- nounced. "Gambling in a public place! I'm going to get a policeman!" "See!" one of the crapshooters said. "He had to open up with his piano and now we got to scram." "She won't find a cop," another said. "You don't find them so easy when you want them, this late at night espe- ciall y . " "All right, granting," the first one said. "But if Mac had kept his mouth shut, she'd of gotten over it by herself. This way we only get involved." McCarty turned to the passengers on the platform and addressed them. "Can you imagine that?" he asked. "What's she all excited about? Some- "":::t,,;î:::,,, :: : . "-'" " " ' "*", .::.:Ik. :.) '. :'. . '. . ,:;'::,,:: "'-.a::, ::::::: " ' . ':. :" ....' <:' ,,:f':"":' "" ': ::::, ,,' ",,':,: ", "::.:::':::: '.. " ii1i;;,:: : ;!: _;:: ; 19 body please tell me what I did to her. Nasty. Some people just go out of their way to be nasty. What she needs is- she needs-" His fist kept on shaking the dice, but he held onto them, look- ing at the stairs. "She's perfectly right," a voice said in measured tones, a rich, strong voice. "This is a public place. If you must gamble, you have no business doing it here." "What?" asked McCarty. He looked around angrily for the voice, and found that it belonged to a heavy- set man with a red face. "A nother American!" exclaimed one of the crapshooters, clapping his hand to his forehead. . "A real Amer- ican! This place is lousy with hundred- and-ten-per-cent Americans." "The laày was perfectly in the ',dP ::i::;j;J,:: : L ; T /",' .. ,:,:::,:: ? J,:; ;;fh);<:: : :::;;H m1 : "::,:,<::..,:1t,:: ''' '' , .., , ' "''':':'::::':'' ----...::.... .."'" "",:> ': H,: . 1 m ..."" >>>> ................. '1 y; :,t4 Fø'rn : :: :: :'. ; (( Now, children j the dentist."